Today, I'm handing over the blogging reigns to a long-time friend of the site, Jesse Nelson. Jesse interviewed Josh McAlear of Redemption Tattoo Boston, one of his tattoo artists, about some interesting pieces that Josh has recently done.

BY JESSE NELSON:

Social media has had an obvious affect on the tattoo industry. Never has it been easier to look through an artist's portfolio and find the right person for the style you desire. Facebook, Twitter and, most of all, Instagram have created a virtual rabbit hole in which I regularly fall through by clicking through picture after picture, by artist after artist. It was on one such trip that I found Josh McAlear of Redemption Tattoo Boston and I had the pleasure of sitting down with him for a chat and some work (a Paul Williams Phantom of the Paradise tattoo!) during a recent guest spot at True Hand in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia.

Looking through his work, its obvious to see that Josh has some love for the Macabre and these three pieces show what you are in for when you book some time with him.

JN: I know Rolling Thunder from back in my video store days and is also the name of Quentin Tarantino's production company because it is one of his favorite films. Were you a fan before doing this piece?

JM: Absolutely one of my all time favorites. So many awesome parts of this film. I had the pleasure of doing this one on my friend Coco who has a similar lust for revenge as I.

JN: I love your monster / skull work. The coloring and style recalls the comics and movie posters I grew up on, I assume you grew up with a similar love of the ghoulish?

JM: Damn straight. I've been a stone cold Horror maniac since I first saw Texas Chainsaw and Faces of Death in 8th grade. I really just want to make this style look like its actually from the 60's/70's, not just a copy of something from then. Also, 99% of the tattooers today all do the same crap. My goal is to do something everyone else isn't doing, but that people will actually get tattoos of. ha ha.

JN: This is another colorful monster that drew me into your work. With a piece like this, does the client come with you with specific ideas, or do they generally trust you to wow them ?

JM: It really is a mix of both. I tend to do more of the stuff like this when I travel. In those cases, people have been really trusting of me, which is great. It can be scary trying something that you haven't seen done before (coloring or style wise at least), but the more I do it the more I trust myself. I'm really happy people have beenresponding well to my recent stuff, it definitely motivates me to keep going with it.